O'Kelly Isley III

And in the context of the UK's future replace it with what exactly ?

If ever there was a time for politicians to put the country's interests before party allegiances then it is now. A crazed Theresa May has almost driven the bus over the cliff and it's now time the adults took over. Request an extension from the EU and put May's deal to the electorate along with No Deal and Remain options. ( Yes I know the headbangers would go crazy, with the Leave vote risking a split, but these are effectively the three choices). Every last MP would do well to consider that if they shove May's deal over the line then it might generate some positive headlines in the scarecrow press but it would be a truly dire outcome.

If anyone's under any misapprehension under how potentially disastrous Brexit is likely to be for the people of the UK then they need only listen to the rhetoric coming on an almost hourly basis from the American ambassador to the UK, the billionaire Woody Johnson.

Anyway, with relegation now averted we can turn to other matters. Hard on the heels of Hazza and Meghan becoming Earl and Countess of Dumbarton, blow me if the old Baked Bean hasn't just made Prince Ted and Sophie the Earl and Countess of Forfar. Isn't this interest in Scottish League Division One by the House of Windsor just marvellous ?

This is getting less a case for the Men In Grey Suits and more a job for The Men In White Coats.

Indeed, but since then only someone living in a cave on Rockall would be unaware of the lies, duplicity, wild promises of the Leave campaign never mind Cambridge Analytica, Arron Banks, the mounting job losses and shambolic political attempts at leaving the EU. In other words a lot has altered since 2016.

Oh yes it would - you expect Swindon for example to repeat the idiocy ?

Aye, I notice the right-wing papers are attempting a hard sell that a growing number of the electorate are moving towards a No Deal. Apart from the fact that there is almost certainly no firm impartial evidence to support this, it's indicative of the desperation setting in and confirms that Telegraph, The Mail and The Express will throw the propaganda kitchen sink in the coming days. Expect The Express to run with a cut-out and keep Spitfire this Tuesday [emoji927]

May, the ERG and the DUP are now desperately taking the piss; in the face of all evidence and reason they are playing the democratic deficit card. If there is an extension I hope the EU makes it conditional on a further public vote but my real fear is that THEIR bottle crashes in the final days and May gets to push her shite deal across the line.

Just been watching the 10 O'clock BBC News - please, FFS someone put a hard border around Grimsby, and quickly. What is it about fishing ports and thickos ?

It's not a 'definite issue', it's the desperate utterings of a man who knows he and his Prime Minister are fast running out of road. And had it been such an issue, then why did that eminent lawyer and former Brexit Secretary, Dominic Raab, not cotton on to it all those months back ? Cox is a Poundland Brian Blessed, a man who thinks bluster will pass for policy. And oh the fucking irony of it; the Tories, visceral haters of European Human Rights legislation, now desperately trying to deploy that very card. Farce indeed.

Too true. The wife and I now point blank refuse to watch any telly programme that doesn't contain scenes that may upset us

FTFY

Perhaps not, but nothing that has happened in the interim convinces me that a parallel set of greedy, uncontrolled feral bankers couldn't easily repeat the dose. And that brings us back to Corbyn; whilst I believe that he and McDonnell would welcome a tilt at their reckless modus operandi, I also believe they simply won't get the chance. The Tories may be venal, heartless, psychopathic and racist b*****ds but they know how to win elections. Corbyn with the likes of Abbott in tow simply won't cut it with a sizeable swathe of the electorate, he simply doesn't have the stuff that takes the fight to the opposition and can inspire people - that is the current reality.

I agree with all of that but there remains a big problem where Corbyn is concerned - he is totally unsuited to leading a major UK party.

Well, that will add to the feeding frenzy of the media on all things medical these days. If people are really serious about health then they will really need to stop voting for political parties which continue to 'invest' in nuclear weaponry and pathologically turn a blind eye to tax dodging on an industrial scale.

Right, that's it. I'm going to Montrose.

I think various people across various social classes had various individual reasons for voting to leave the EU, often oblivious of traditional party allegiance. Whether that was salt o' th'earth folk in Accrington wanting a return to the days when chimneys dominated the local skyline or the nice people in East Cheam wistfully recalling the days of no black faces in the golf clubhouse, the one unifying element appeared to be that every last one of them 'wanted their country back'. It is a brave politician or public figure who calls out this shite, and unfortunately we've have very few around when we really needed them

I'm not at all sure that I would to be honest - politcians often undergo conversions when they take high office.

I've always held to the view that the posthumous projection of a John Smith premiership probably far exceeds what the reality would have been. Sometimes we Scots are seduced by 'serious politicians' who trail a strong whiff of Presbyterian rectitude when the truth is they are no great shakes - Gordon Brown anyone ?

Utterly marvellous...by the time they reach Middlesbrough locals will be passing out at the smell of Ralgex.

Whilst I applaud your sentiments I think your analysis strays into wishful thinking. A patient lying I'll in bed is unwilling to kick the nurse and that is how a lot of the electorate views the Tories. I'm a former Labour voter but I'd have real problems voting for a Corbyn-led party; not because of all the usual shit but because I consider him to be an utterly lamentable leader who has assembled a shadow cabinet of mediocrity. What I'm really saying is that faced with a dismal choice most voters will stick with their default position. And history is not on Labour's side.

You see, this is what happens..... deprived of any juicy tidbits we all start savaging each other like wild dogs in the Serengeti.

Mea culpa, it's an absolute fair cop. But maybe the fact that I'd never even heard of this group speaks volumes about the way in which Israel has become almost permanently front and centre in British politics. Just why is that ?

Can anyone tell me why there is a group called 'Labour Friends Of Israel' and not one called say 'Labour Friends Of Argentina' or 'Labour Friends Of India ?' Are there Labour Party members who have a mission to rebut any criticism of the actions of the Israeli Government and who are intent on closing down debate on the subject ?